chambers



beets-Sheet 1.

Fvgj.

` WITNESSES 4Sheets-Sheet2. `C. CHAMBERS, Jr., 8v' W. MENDHAM.

Paper-Folding Machine.

No. 225,506. Pa'frvreolr Mar." 16, 1880.

WITNESSES INVEJV'TR MMM,"

NfFrERS. PHDTDAUTHOGRAPMER. WASHINGTON. D C..

4 sheets-Sheen 3. C. HAMBERSQJI., 8v W. MENDHAM.

Paper-Folding Machine.

No. 225,506. Patented Mar'. 16,-1880.

. ,rilyi XNESSES M@ N. PETERS. FHOTO-LITHOGRAPHER. WASHINGTON. D C.

UNITED STATES PATENT EEICE,l

CYRUS CHAMBERS, JR.,`AND WILLIAM MENDHAM, OFPIIILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA SAID MENDHAM ASSIGNOR rI O SAID CHAMBERS.

PAPE-R-FOLDING MACHINE.

Y SPECIIEICA'IION` -forming partv of Letters Patent No. 225,506, dated March 16, 1880.

A Application filed March 13, 1876.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, GYEUs CHAMBERS, Jr., and WILLIAM MENDHAM,both of Philadelphia, in the State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Rotary PapenFolding Machines; and we do hereby declare the following to be a full and correct description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a side elevation of the machine. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal vertical section ou line a: a: of Fig. 3. Fig. 3 is a transverse vertical section on line y y of Fig. 2. Figs. 4, 5, 6, and 7 `are details on an enlarged scale.

The same part is marked by the same letter of reference wherever it occurs.

The object of our invention is to provide a machine for the very rapid folding of damp limp paper, either fed by hand or received mechanically from the printing-press.

It consists of improvements and modifications of the machine invented by us and patented August 5, 1873, numbered 141,489. In.

that machine the first fold only was made by means of an elastic creasing-blade and springgripers attached to the rst pair of foldingrollers and acting upon the sheet without arresting its motion. All the subsequent folds were made in the ordinary manner byV means of a folding-blade acting upon a sheet at rest above a pair of common folding-rollers.

In the machine now about to be described all the folds are imparted to the sheet by ro tating folding-blades and by gripers attached to the folding-rollers, all the movements of the machine being rotatory and continuous, thus insuring the highest practicable rate of speed in the performance of its work.

To enable others to make and use our improvedfolding-machine, We proceed to describe not now be described. The front edge of the sheet is placed against the stops s attached to the shaft of the drop-roller d. The drop-roller then descends and holds the edge against the surface of roller A, and Vthe stops fall into grooves c in the roller and disappear beneath its surface, and allow the further rotation of roller A to carry the sheet forward.

Thus far the construction and operation are the same as those of our machine of August 5, 1873, before referred to.

A B are the first pair of folding-rollers. The roller A vturns on Vjournals in the side framing, and its shaft is the main shaft of the machine, to which the driving-power, representedI by the winch W, is applied. One end of the roller A consists of a toothed gear, which meshes into and drives gear A', attached to the end of the shaft of the first rotating blade D. The gear A' rotates in the same time with the roller A, and the blade D engages with roller A once at each rotation. provided with a number of grooves, c, as shown, and in it is located a nipper-bar, d', which vibrates on substantial journals in the end of roller A. (See Fig. 4.) To one of these journals is attached a short lever, e', in which is an adjustable stud,j"', on which rotates a friction-roller, g', rolling in contact with a stationary cam, C, attached to the side framing, and so timed that the griper-bar may be made to open and close at the desired periods during the rotation ofthe roller A.

A spring, S', is applied to the heel of lever c', to keep the roller g' incontact with the surface of cam C.

The nipperfcl Works against an angular edge of the recess in roller A, in which it vibrates, (see Figs. and 5,) and the blade D enters between this angular edge and the nipper, so as to force a crease of the sheet into the bite of the nipper when open.

When, by the further rotation of A and A', the blade D is withdrawn, the nipper closes, and carries the sheet along with the roller A till the crease enters the bite of rollers A B, when the nippers are opened and the sheet allowed to pass double between said rollers and along tapes under rods E to stop F. (See Fig. 2.)

-The forward end of the sheet, immediately af- IOO ter being fed over roller A and under the droproller d, passes down between two sets of bars, a b, inclined at an angle of about fortyfive degrees, the upper set, a, being made to reciprocate lon gitndinally, so that when they are in their highest position their upper ends enter grooves c in the creasing-roller A and prevent the entrance of the sheet between the rollers A B, and when the bars a are in their lowest position their upper ends are buried in grooves in roller B, and give the sheet unobstructed access to the bite of the rollers A B.

This device replaces the vibrating guidengers V, used for a similar purpose in-our machine of August 5, 1873.

The lower set of bars,b,are rigidly attached to a cross-bar, M', extending from side to side, and yattached to the lower framing. They eX- tend up to the top of roller A, near the droproller d, as shown in Figs. l and 2.

vThe upper set of bars, a, pass loosely through holes in cross-bar Q', so as to niove up and down. They are fixed to a bar, G', (see Fig. 2,) attached to an arm, F', of rock-shaft E'.

A toothed pinion, R, on the end of the main shaft engages with large gear S on the end of cam-shaft B', carrying cam C', which operates arm D' projectingfroin rock-sliaft E'.

It is by virtue of this connection that the bar G' at the end of arm F receives its reciprocatin g movement at the proper time. A spring, f, counteracts cam C, and tends to force the bar Q' down when released from the direct action of the cani.

When the sheet, once folded, has passed the rollers A B it travels on tapes under rods E till its folded edge encounters the stops F at the rear of the machine. As the wet and limp sheet is traveling at high velocity, it would, if unrestrained, have a tendency to double up when its folded edge struck the stop. To avoid this difficulty we employ a device for moderating its speed by a force applied near the rear end of the sheet. We place at a distance from the stop greater than half the length of the longest sheet the machine is designed to fold what we term "tail-catchers, which grasp the sheet near the rear end just before the folded edge strikes the stop, so as to arrest its rapid motion and allow it to reach- .roll, H, and grasp or clamp the paper for an instant between them, so as to reduce its speed j to the speed of the end of the said fingers. The further rotation of the shaft G instantly releases the paper preparatory to its receiving the second fold.

Inplace of the roller H, there may, if preferred, be small independent friction-rollers running in separate bearings and not driven,

and these maybe located at less than half the length of the sheet from the stop.

The device for giving the second fold consists of a pair of rollers, I '.I, one, I, having one or more grooves, 7L h, and carrying a creasing-blade, and the other having a longitudinal groove, K, for the reception of a rotating creasing-blade, L, as clearly shown in Figs. 2 and 3. These two rolls, with their grooves h h and blades j and L, make two parallel folds at right angles to the first fold, the distance between the grooves h 7L and the blade j, measured around the periphery of the roller I, determiningthe distance between the two parallel folds. The object of the second groove is to allow a variation in that distance; or the groove may, if preferred, be in a bar made adjustable around the periphery of the roll.

The rollers I J are geared together, and are driven by a bevel-gear connection with the tape-roller shaft, on the end of which is gear H', which meshes into and is driven by gear S. A gear, O', on the rear end of the shaft of roller I engages with and drives a gear, L', on the rear end of the shaft of blade L. From the roll J the thrice-folded sheet passes'between the rolls M M, and is carried by tapes and bars to the near side` of the machine over the rolls N N', the sheet being stripped' from the groove Kin the roller J by the stripperfingers O and guided around a roller, "M, .as shown in Fig. 3. The rolls M M are geared together, and are driven by a gear on the end of the shaft of roller J. As the thrice-folded sheet is presented above the rolls N N' it is again folded at right angles by the rotating creasing-blade I? forcing the paper into the stationary groove in the roller N. The rollers N N are geared together, and are driven by a train of gearing, H' I' J' K', receiving motion from gear S. The gears on rollers N N' drive the shaft of rotating blade P. As the sheet is drawn between the two rollers N and N lits folded edge is stripped from the groove bythe stripper Q, and delivered into the packing-box in the usual manner.

The paste-pot B is located under the roller A, opposite to the center of the sheet, with'its paste-wheel running in contact with it during the passage of the last half of the sheet, the paste-wheel coinciding in position with one of the grooves c in roller A opposite the center line of the sheet. The once-folded and pasted sheet is trimmed .at the head by a rotating serrated cutter, which is to be the subject f of i another application.

The grooves h h (see Fig. 7) are tobe distinguished from the longitudinal grooves, which areprovided with nipper-bars. In the nipper-bar grooves the crease of thepaper is held by the pressure of the nipper against the edge of the groove or recess in which it works; but in the grooves h .7, which wehave called stationary, the mouth being smaller than the bottom of the cavity, the paper is held Iby reason ofthe expansion of the foldy itself after it has passed the mouth of the groove and IOO IZO

entered the enlarged portion. This method ot'holding the crease becomes applicable when the elasticity ot' the fold has been increased by the doubling of the paper. We therefore prefer to apply it after the irst and second folds have been made.`

rIhe crease held in the longitudinal grooves of the folding-rollers is released by means of a device which we call a strippen It consists of a series of fingers attached to a back bar after the manner of a comb, and entering the circular grooves in the foldin g-rollers. As the rollers turn the tin gers are brought underneath the creased edge of the sheet, and gradually force it out of the groove in which it has been held.

Fig. 6 illustrates a method of operating the gripei-bar in a creasing-roller. On each end of the roller is attached a spring, e, provided with a triangular tooth at its free end, which acts against the nipper-bar y to force it open when the spring is pressed down by the contact of the folding-rollers. A spring, w, reacts against the back ofthe nipper-bar to force it into contact with the edge of the groove 7c, in which it acts.

The machinery and methods hereinbefore `described having been in interference with claims to similar methods and machinery made by other parties, we wish it to be understood that We make no claim to the mechanisms and methods described and claimed in the said interfering cases, otherwise than as herein specically claimed.

Having thus fully described our invention, what we claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

l. In Ycombination with the grooved rollers A B, the inclined `bars a b, for guiding the loose end of the sheet from the roller A past the roller B without permitting it to enter between them, as described.

2. The combination, with the cross-bar G and arm Ff, of the bars a, made to reciprocate longitudinally by the movement of therockbar E', so as alternately to open and close the entrance to the bite of the rollers A B, as specified.

3. In combination with mechanism or devices for carrying the sheet tothe stop F, the tailcatching mechanism, consisting of the fingers g g on shaft G, revolving at such speed as to come into 'contact with the surface of roller H once Jfor each sheet which passes between them, as and for the purpose stated.

4. In combination with a 'blade for inserting the paper, a folding-roller having a longitudinal groove, made larger at the bottom than at the mouth for the purpose of allowing -room for the fold of the paper to iiy open and be held in the groove by its own elasticity on the withdrawal of the blade which introduced it, as and for the purpose explained.

5. In combination with folding-rollers having longitudinal grooves formed with sharp edges and an enlarged interior space, as described, the stripper-fingers entering the cir- CYRUS CHAMBERS, JR. WILLIAM MENDHADL Witnesses:

J. HOWARD CHAMBERs, BERNARD OHAMBERs. 

